I finally received my Barnevelder hatching eggs which were mailed priority from North Carolina on the 9th. It means they are at least two weeks old. And this time the three middle eggs were broken and egg yolk got all over the other eggs. I really want to try hatching them....is it hopeless? If not, should I wash them? How, if I want them to hatch? Warm water and dry them? Oh dear.
Hatching eggs with egg all over them?
i got a dz expensive silkies in one time from ohio that the inside ones flipped out of carton due to carton not taped and pillows had flattened during ship and smashed on the outer ones and only 4 were not broke and they were caked so bad w/ yolk the po called to pick up my garbage bag of eggs,lol. i was furious. i cleaned them and set them and still got 2 babies out of it so it wasn't a total loss.
u can wash hatching eggs if u do it right. 1. it has to be right before u put them in the bator to set so less chance of contamination. 2. use really warm/hot water one egg at a time and hurray and dry off with a towel or paper towel don't let it stay wet any longer than u have too. 3. hurray stick it in a carton and do the same for rest and hurray through cleaning and drying each one. soon as u r done get them in the bator. continue incubation same as u always do.
when eggs r wet they can remove the coating on the egg and allow bacteria to absorb through the porus shell. if ur hands r clean and u use hot water quick as possible before it cools and have it dry, u have it dry quick enough before usually any chances of contamination.
fertility starts to lower a certain percentage everyday after the first 7 days. try it u may have a lower hatch rate but u still could get babies. i've known people who have still hatched babies after keeping them in the fridge a week or 2 or after 30 days old so it is possible. if in 10 days they don't candle fertile just toss the eggs then.
hope that helps,
silkie
Thank you so much, silkiechick! That was exactly the information I needed. You always know the answers!
lol u are so welcome. that's cuz i always have problems i learned the hard way.
:0)
OK, catscan, now hatch ME some barnevelders!!!
Catscan are these the ones that replaced the other missing ones??
MollyD
Yup, MollyD. The poor Barnevelder guy wrote "Live Hatching Eggs" and "Perishable" all over them. He mailed them priority from North Carolina with tracking, same as last time--which is supposed to be 2-3 days, but the PO won't guarantee that. I could understand 7 days, but 14 and then some broken? I tried to speak to my PO about it, they couldn't help--I think the problem is in NC, because I have received other eggs with no problems. On May 6th Ideal is suppose to send eggs--will see how that goes. I really can't blame the seller he's tried twice--although as TamaraFaye has said, 65 cents for $100 of insurance seems to focus the PO minds on getting the eggs through.
I am going to candle them this morning, wash them like silkiechick advised, and see if I can get any Barnevelders. The Ideal eggs are Barnevelders too, so I might have two bloodlines. The ones from North Carolina are a nice brown--but not notably darker than most brown eggs.
Candling just showed that all nine surviving Barnevelder eggs have TAC. I've let them rest for 24 hours and I am still going to try to incubate them . I would be happy with even one Barnevelder pullet.
Got to get the brooder ready for my current eggs--hatching should start the beginning of next week. Yipee!
This message was edited Apr 24, 2008 3:25 PM
Good luck with that Catscan. I find it incredible that the PO should be so inefficient! I wonder if it's the same one that a person over on a flower thread said told him he couldn't get plant shipments from an individual, only a nursery!!! She threatened to have his packages opened if anymore plants arrived from individuals!! I was shocked!
MollyD
MollyD, the PO person has probably read about needing a permit to ship plants out of state. Things have really tightened up since 9/11. She probably read some notice and decided she was all that was standing between a plague and her town. I don't know what all the regulations are between states. CA has always been very strict because of its agricultural industry, but now that is coming back to bite it because we have some novel plant diseases that no one else wants. It is sad because sharing plants is part of a civilized life, IMHO:0).
Does it ever end! Atleast you got them!! Good luck!!!
Just realized it can't be same person cause this guy was out in the mid-west somewhere like Missouri or thereabouts.
MollyD
I emailed the seller to let him know that I had received the eggs and was going to try to incubate the ones that survived the trip. He was very nice. Said his last 3 shipments had taken 2 weeks and he is very upset. Thinks it may be due to the airline situation. He also said that he doesn't think my eggs will hatch after so long on the road and he is going to send me more in a week or so. He didn't say it, but he is now losing money on this--which shows what a good guy he is.
So sorry to hear about your eggs. I have read that
if the water is 20* warmer than the eggs will work.
I just can't see getting dried stuck yolk off in a quick
wash. I have also read that a light sandpapering is
also effective, and better than washing them. The stuff
on eggs that keeps them fresh and from bacteria is
called 'bloom'.
When I got quail eggs from NC they were rough handled.
I also had missing mail that never arrived from the same
area of the country. Sounds like you guy is going out of
his way to help. I hope you get some chickies from them.
Hi truest--I washed them very quickly in very hot water....a book suggested 110-115 degrees! I used a small amount of bleach in the water which another author suggested. The eggs that broke had leaked all over, but it was almost like it was a little yolk mixed with a lot of white. The whole eggs were sort of glazed in it. It seems to have come right off. I am not holding out a lot of hope--just didn't want the eggs to act as sources of contamination in the incubator.
One of the books I was referring to said never to sand eggs that were going into the incubator because the fine powder it produces can float around and contaminate the other eggs as well was moving into the sanded egg itself through the pores. Who knows? I just want my nice fertile eggs to stay that way:0)
I guess there are many methods out there. I think
a tac cloth (sticky stuff for fine wood from sanding)
would get everything off. But, since I haven't tried it
I couldn't say if it would be better. I hope your TAC's
settle down. I had one obvious TAC in one of the quail
sent all the way from PA., and it never developed.
I hope your eggs candle fertile soon! Go chicks!
Cat, how are the eggs coming along?
Hi saanansandy. They are in the incubator and I will candle them tomorrow (day 7) to see if anything is developing. However, given the dark brown color of the shell, I may not see much. I am expecting more Barnevelder eggs from the same guy--he feel very bad about the shipping problem and is replacing them free of charge. Also expecting Barnevelder eggs that I orderd ages ago from Ideal. Potentially a lot of Barnevelders--but since so far I have incubated 24 eggs and have none to show for it, I am not counting my chickens--well you know.........:0)
Hope you see lots going on when you candle your
eggs, Cat.
Thanks, truest. I candled them tonight and I can't really say they aren't developing--but I can't say they are either. Maybe at 10 days. At least they don't smell!
Fingers crossed!
Hope, hope:0)
Lots of luck to you Catscan!
MollyD
keeping fingers crossed here too!!!
Hey, Cat- did you get any development from your
eggs? If you started another thread elsewhere about
them, sorry, I missed it.
Hi truest. No, none of them developed:0(. They had been in the mail for 2 weeks, so I wasn't expecting much. The breeder said he would send them out for the third time when he had enough. Haven't heard from him.......But I do have some new Barnevelder eggs from Ideal and some of them are developing. Main problem now is keeping the incubator temp even with extremely hot weather and no airconditioning. Glad the weekend is coming and I will be able to watch it carefully!
That's got to be hard. There has to be a better
way to ship eggs. Yes, I know that the time factor
affects all eggs, but I'm thinking about the packaging.
Sure I've received eggs where none are broken, and
that's great, but they still take a beating. think think think
Ouch!
Oh, i think i have the shipping part all figured out. dmail if you want details... tf
Okay, just got a nice email from my Barnevelder guy and he has shipped another dozen eggs. The ones I currently have in the incubator are due to hatch around the 28th, so there will be an overlap of about a week--but since I use the homemade bator as a hatcher it will be more like 3 or 4 days. Not too bad--but I am having a wretched time keeping my temp even. Hopefully with our heatwave breaking this week it should be better. I think having a separate hatcher is very helpful--and since you can make one easily from styrofoam and a light bulb, I don't think I ever want to risk hatching eggs in the main bator. Hatching is a messy, germy business:0)
so glad to hear it!
i would agree, it has been very helpful to have multiple bators set up for incubation and hatching. i even incubated some eggs separate from others, either because of the origin of the eggs [swap], or the possible need to different humidity.
then i was really fortunate to be able to use one as a temporary ICU for chicks i wasn't sure would make it.
and moved eggs that didn't hatch in time to another bator so they could hatch in a clean envrioment the next day...
tf
counting the days to the barnevelders!